The Wild Heart @ 30: ‘If anyone falls in love… It will be one of us’

Friday, August 23, 2013

Following the success of lead single “Stand Back,” which peaked at number five on the Billboard Top 100 Singles chart, Stevie Nicks followed up her big summer hit with “If Anyone Falls,” track number two on The Wild Heart. With its distinctive synthesizer arrangement and infectious chorus, the song was another hit for the album, reaching number 14 on the pop singles chart and number 8 on mainstream rock.

Original music video for If Anyone Falls

Following the success of lead single “Stand Back,” which peaked at number five on the Billboard Top 100 Singles chart, Stevie Nicks followed up her big summer hit with “If Anyone Falls (in Love)” track number two on The Wild Heart. With its distinctive synthesizer arrangement and infectious chorus, the song was another hit for the album, reaching number 14 on the pop singles chart and number 8 on mainstream rock. A music video with iconic Stevie Nicks imagery (complete with leg warmers, chiffon skirts, and ballet dancers) and a cameo by drummer Mick Fleetwood accompanied and propelled the single.

Music by Sandy Stewart

“This is the first song that I wrote with Sandy,” Nicks explains. “I’ve probably prayed for so many years that I’d find somebody I could write songs with, and I finally found her. She lives in Houston, and she’s totally crazy. She’s a real brilliant musician and what she does for me is she writes a song, goes in with a band and records it, sends me the track, track sounds great. I go into my bathroom, put it on my stereo, plug in my tape recorder, sing along, record it right there. I play it for everybody the next day; everybody goes crazy, and that’s it, it’s over.”

Inspired by Waddy Wachtel

“There was a time when I was falling out of one love and into another, when nothing else seemed to matter except this person,” Nicks recalls. “I adored him. He was everything I wanted to be; a real rock and roller and a lover of the Stones, small and frail sometimes, but in many ways the strongest person I had ever known. His word was law. I became him. He became me, and no one dared intrude upon this union. He is no longer with me, but his spirit twin never leaves me. I think sometimes I liked being on stage just to watch him. It was music combined with love, combined with the fact that when Waddy was besides me, I felt completely safe. It is to my great sorrow that we are no longer on stage together, but it is to my great joy that he always seems to be with me, even after all this time. ‘Love is a word that some entertain… If you find it, then you have won the game.'” (Timespace liner notes)